What is Shea Butter?
Shea butter is fat that’s extracted from the nuts of Karite trees. Our Shea butter is grown in Ghana. A women’s collective extracts the butter from the nuts giving employment and income to hundreds of thousands of rural African village women. Shea butter is so non-toxic and beneficial that it is used in foods and cooking as well as our soaps, lotions, lip balm, bath bombs and scented shea butter.
What are the benefits of Shea Butter?
It's Moisturizing:
Shea butter is typically used for its moisturizing effects. The benefits of shea butter come from its chemical makeup. Shea butter contains:
- linoleic, palmitic, stearic, and oleic fatty acids, ingredients that balance oils on your skin
- vitamins A, E, and F, antioxidant vitamins that promote circulation and healthy skin cell growth
- triglycerides, the fatty part of the shea nut that nourishes and conditions your skin
- cetyl esters, the waxy part of the shea nut butter that conditions skin and locks in moisture
Shea Butter is a superior moisturizer because it's able to rapidly absorb into the deep tissue layer of the skin, regenerating cell growth and acting as a “refatting” agent, restoring lipids and rapidly creating moisture. This restores the barrier between your skin and the outside environment, holding moisture in and reducing your risk of dryness. By boosting collagen production and promoting new cell generation, shea butter may help reduce what researchers call photoaging — the wrinkles and fine lines that environmental stress and aging can create on skin.Shea butter has significant levels of vitamins A and E, which means it promotes strong antioxidant activity. Shea butter’s moisturizing and antioxidant properties work together to help your skin generate healthy new cells. natural moisturizer is rich and healthy for the skin.
It's Antioxidant:
Antioxidants are important anti-aging agents. They protect your skin cells from free radicals that can lead to premature aging and dull-looking skin.
It's Anti-Inflammatory:
The plant esters of shea butter have been found to have anti-inflammatory properties. When applied to the skin, shea triggers cytokines and other inflammatory cells to slow their production and is helpful for inflammatory skin conditions, such as eczema
Helps prevent Acne:
Shea butter helps restore the natural balance of oil production in your skin, making it beneficial for acne.
Offers Sun Protection:
Shea butter contains an estimated SPF of 3 to 4.
Fun Fact:
Our eco-friendly shea butter jars are made in the USA from 100% recycled material.
Why is my shea butter firm?
Our shea butters are 100% pure shea butter unscented or scented with essential oils and/or fragrance. It is unlike a body butter or cream as it undiluted pure shea butter with no water content. It is very dense before it has been stirred up. The texture fluctuates with the temperature...when it's warm it's soft and when it's cold it's firm. If the shea butter is very firm, you can put the jar in the microwave for 20 second intervals or in a warm sunny window just until it's soft enough to stir. Once the shea butter is stirred it will stay much creamier and easy to apply. The easiest way to apply the shea butter all over the body is to take a scoop in the palm of your hands and rub them together until the butter has melted. Then you can apply the shea butter like a lotion. Shea butter is excellent for the skin from head to toe!